Flagstaff, Arizona (AP) - Scientists have long suspected that Mexico's long-nosed bats migrated to southeastern Arizona, but did not capture and measure nighttime flying organisms, which proved elusive.

The researchers say they now have a way to tell endangered species by analyzing saliva that nocturnal mammals stay when they drink from plants and residential hummingbird feeders, among other bats.

BAT Conservation International is a nonprofit that ends the global extinction of bat species, working with residents from Southeast Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and West Texas to conduct a saliva-eating campaign.

The remaining saliva samples along the potential migration route were sent to a laboratory at Flagstaff Northern Arizona University where researchers searched for environmental DNA or Edna to confirm that the bats crossed Arizona and considered part-time homes in the area .

Since 1988, Mexico's long-nosed bats have been classified as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and are the only person in Arizona with federal protection. It is an important species for pollinating cactus, agave and other desert plants.

Officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Department of Games and Fish announced the discovery in late January. Wildlife managers say that while expanding Arizona’s bat species list to 29, wildlife managers say it’s also worth celebrating using the novel’s non-invasive method.

"If we try to identify species without Edna, then biologists might spend hours trying to capture one of the bats, even then, You can't guarantee success, either." For Arizona's Games and Fish Division. “By sampling the environment, Edna provides us with additional tools to the toolkit.”

Each spring, Mexico’s long nose bats travel through the southwest along the long northbound migration paths of Mexico, along the sweet nectar of their favorite blooming plants, such as bread crumbs. They return along the same route in the fall.

The Bat Conservation Team recruited regular citizens to perform the mission and gave them a kit to wipe bird feeder samples throughout the summer and fall.

In the university lab, microbiology major Anna Riley extracted DNA from hundreds of samples and ran them through a machine, eventually detecting the presence of the bat. Part of the work involved a stable hand, Riley used a syringe to transfer the diluted DNA into the vial and then ejected it into a centrifuge.

The sample after the sample, the vial after the vial, took several months to work carefully.

"There is a big database with DNA sequences that are not every animal but most species, so we can compare the DNA sequences we get from these samples to what is in the database," Riley said. "There is a problem, you I was asking Google, plug it into the database, and you have a bat and you have one like this."

Kristen Lear of the Conservation Group said Edna's collection has been successfully used to determine the presence of various wildlife and plants in various environments, so the group proposed an attempt with bats. .

"They obviously left a lot of spit on these plants and hummingbird feeders," Lear said.

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Oneil was reported from Las Vegas. Gabriel Sandoval, a member of the U.S. State News Initiative’s Corps/Reports, contributed to the report.